As part of the company’s 2008 third quarter results, officials from Electronic Arts have gone to the unusual effort of releasing estimated hardware sales information for Europe.

Although sales information is available on a weekly and monthly basis in Japan and North America, respectively, no such data is ever released for Europe as a whole, and only very rarely by individual country.

The document (PDF) cautions that the estimates and projections were prepared by Electronic Arts only and have not been reviewed or approved by any of the three console manufacturers. The company also admits the figures are based on the “limited information currently available”, with the implication that it is not based directly on Chart-Track or GfK information.

Nevertheless, the data makes for interesting reading - with the 2006 calendar year estimates given as 0.7 million sales for the Wii, 2.0 million sales for the Xbox 360, 4.0 million sales for the PSP, 6.0 million sales for the PlayStation 2 and 6.4 million sales for the Nintendo DS. (The PlayStation 3 was not launched in Europe until 2008.)

In 2007, Electronic Arts estimates saw the Xbox 360 slipping into last place with 1.9 million unit sold. This compares to 2.8 million for the PlayStation 3, 3.1 million for the PSP, 3.8 million for the PlayStation 2, 4.8 million for the Wii and 8.7 million for the Nintendo DS.

Estimates for the 2008 calendar year see the PlayStation 3 pulling ahead in Europe, with the Xbox 360 expected to sell only between 1.5 and 2.5 million units.

The PlayStation 3 is estimated to sell between 5.0 and 6.0 million and the Wii between 6.5 million and 7.5 million. PSP sales are estimated at between 2.5 million and 3.5 million, with the Nintendo DS at between 6.5 million and 7.5 million.

Electronic Arts’ share of the European software market has remained relatively steady through the last five quarters, from a high of 22 percent in Q3 2007 to a steady 19 percent over the last three quarters.